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The Faith of the Founders

The Faith of the Founders

by James Robison and Jay Richards

As we celebrate the birth of freedom this July 4th, it’s worth remembering
the Godly foundation upon which America was established. Mention the role of
faith in public life, and somebody is bound to bring up the faith of the
Founders. Like many debates, this one has two extremes. Many secularists (and
some conspiracy-minded Christians) claim that the Founders were mostly deists or
religious skeptics who wanted to keep religion on the sidelines. (Deism is the
view that God created the world and established a moral law, but doesn’t get
involved in the day-to-day details on the ground. Strict deists rejected the
possibility of miracles and the value of prayer.) They trot out skeptical quotes
from Thomas Jefferson and talk about the “Jefferson Bible,” in which Jefferson
deleted all references to miracles from the gospels.

In response, some Christians seem intent on proving that almost all the
Founders were conservative evangelical Christians. They will cite the many
statements by Founders showing their Christian piety or commending the value of
Christianity for society. The truth is that the lines separating orthodox
Christianity from deism were blurry in 18th-century America. We should resist
the temptation to cram them into tidy modern compartments. Many of the Founders,
such as Patrick Henry, John Jay, John Witherspoon, and Samuel
Adams, were serious Christians, without a whiff of deism on them. Almost all
were Protestants, though Charles Carroll, who signed the Declaration of
Independence, was a Catholic. None were atheists.
George Washington was an Episcopalian, though he often attended different
houses of worship. He believed deeply in God’s providence and in the necessity
of religion for morality. In his inaugural address, he said:
“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity,
Religion and Morality are indispensable supports….Let it simply be asked, Where
is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of
religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of
investigation in Courts of Justice? And let us with caution indulge the
supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be
conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar
structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that National morality
can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”

We could pile on quote after quote along the same lines from the Founders.
Even so-called deists such as Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin supported
prayer and religious observance. Others who were Unitarian, such as John Adams,
often spoke fondly of Christianity and, in particular, its moral system.

This was but the most crucial of several points of agreement among the
American Founders:

The Church has a proper authority that the state must respect.

The federal government should neither establish nor prohibit the free
exercise of religion.

Every person should enjoy religious liberty.

Religion, and especially Christianity, is vital to the survival and
prosperity of the American Experiment.

We know by reason that God and a natural law exist.

Public displays of respect for God are right and good, and don’t constitute
an establishment of religion.

These views allowed the Founders to revere God in public, even officially,
while still opposing a federally established church. God’s existence and the
basic principles of morality, they believed, were public truths, not sectarian
religious doctrines. So when the US Congress adopted “In God We Trust” as our
national motto in 1956, they were not imposing religion on the public, but
publicly recognizing God—just as the Founders did. The phrase had appeared on
our coins as early as the 1850s.

Remember, it was Thomas Jefferson, a deist of sorts, who wrote in the
Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable rights….” On this point, the Founders believed, reason and
revelation agreed.
Over the course of centuries, Christian thinkers came to understand and
defend the dignity of the individual, the voluntary nature of faith, and the
universality of sin. On these foundations, some built political institutions
that protected human dignity and freedom, including economic freedom, while
balancing out the tendency of fallen human beings to consolidate power. These
institutions followed slowly but naturally from Christian theology. And they
were nowhere enshrined more completely than in the ideals of the American
Experiment, even when the Founders and other Americans failed to live up to
those ideals. While other cultures adopt the free institutions developed in the
Christian West, we shouldn’t forget where and why they developed the first
place.

You may think what I am about to say is extreme, but hear it loud and clear:
If the American people, the political leaders, the academics, the courts, and
Congress continue promoting this present course, we will no longer be
celebrating the birth of freedom, but rather witnessing the death of liberty and
freedom in our lifetime. The future of freedom is in your hands and rests on
your shoulders. I will not step back or be silent! Freedom must not die on our
watch.

Remember, if freedom dies, it will be by our own hand because people who
claim faith in God remain uninformed, indifferent, and uninvolved. We will have
handed freedom over to the destroyer of life and liberty. God forgive us if we
do! By prayerfully and boldly uniting together we can celebrate the rebirth of
freedom rather than witness the death of it. The future is in our hands. Now is
the time to stand up and be counted!

I invite you to join with church leaders and Americans who care deeply and
believe the Lord is our hope! Come to a special gathering July 27 at the “Under
God INDIVISIBLE” conference. By agreeing together, we can help inspire the
necessary spiritual awakening. Go to dfw.undergodindivisible.org to
view the speakers and those who will lead in prayer for the next Great
Awakening.

Add To Your Faith

The fruit of the Spirit is . . . FAITHFULLNESS.

It is Well With My Soul

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23

Jesus, The Great I Am

There is no power in hell or any who can stand before the power and presence of the Great I Am.

THE GOLDEN RULE

The only thing you should owe to anyone is LOVE for one another, for to LOVE the other person is to fulfill the law. Romans 13:8

A Cheerful Heart Is Good Medicine,

but a downcast spirit dries up the bones. Proverbs 17:22

Renewing Your Mind

Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is -- his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2

Trust & Obey

...."Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones".... Proverbs 3:5-8 NASB

2 Corinthians 5:15

...."and He died for all, so that they who live might NO longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf"

Book of Common Prayer

"From envy, hatred, and malice, and all uncharitableness, Good Lord, deliver us."

Trust In The Lord

Rejoice and give thanks in ALL circurmstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Can Prayer Really Change Things?

Our beliefs about the efficacy of prayer are closely related to our faith. If you don't believe that God can change the world, you're unlikely to see it, even if it happens right in front of your eyes. God sometimes shakes up our lives to open our eyes, to increase our trust & faith in him--and help us see prayer's effectiveness...

Prayer Request

Heavenly Father teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart. Psalm 90:12 Would you help by praying for those who leave comments and prayer requests?

Always Follow the 10 Commandments

But we have this TREASURE in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 2 Corinthians 4:7-9

Salvation Lessons From The Thief On The Cross

There were seven truths that the repentant thief understood. Studying these truths is important since they are the same realities that all must embrace in order to gain peace with their Creator...

True, Honest, Just, Pure...

Think on these things.

Perilous Times Shall Come

For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. 2 Timothy 3:1-2